Effect of different subsets on convergence patterns of hyperspherical harmonic expansion for theS states of the helium atom

Abstract

Effects of different subsets on convergence patterns of hyperspherical harmonic (HH) expansions for the low-lying 1S and 3S states of the helium atom have been investigated with the correlation-function-hyperspherical-harmonic-generalized-Laguerre-function (CFHHGLF) method by successively introducing HH subsets with the fixed three-dimensional angular momentums (l) into the atomic wave functions. The eigenenergies given by the HH subsets of l=0, 1, 2, and 3 are in good agreement with the best s-, sp-, spd-, and spdf limits of variational configuration interaction (CI) calculations, respectively. The final eigenenergies of the ground state as well as the examined low-lying excited 1S and 3S states are quite close to the exact Hylleraas CI (HCI) values at the sixth decimal place. Moreover, l=0 and l≠0 expansion results also tell us that it is not necessary to take into account too many HHs at the given l, especially for higher l, and that the more the absolute electron correlation energies the bigger l it takes to obtain precise eigenenergies. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 64: 661–668, 1997